The state Republican party was so confident
that it sent volunteers to neighboring Florida, a battleground state.
Kerry's selection of a Southerner, Sen. John Edwards, did not help the
Democratic ticket here, nor did the organization
that state Democratic party chair Redding Pitt put together. Kerry
fared worse than Gore had, obtaining roughly the same number of votes amid
higher turnout.

The eleven counties Kerry won:

Kerry

Bush

Montgomery

45,160

44,097

Dallas

11,175

7,335

Russell

8,375

8,337

Macon

7,800

1,570

Hale

4,631

3,281

Sumter

4,527

1,880

Lowndes

4,233

1,786

Wilcox

3,838

1,834

Perry

3,767

1,738

Greene

3,764

958

Bullock

3,210

1,494

These counties are all in a block across
the southern part of the state. In 2000 Gore also won Barbour, Marengo,
Choctaw and Conecuh, as well as Colbert, Lawrence and Jackson in the north.

Pres.
Bush made a stop, although not part of the campaign:Sept. 19, 2004 - touring damage
from Hurricane Ivan, he walked the beachfront with officials and greeted
first responders at Orange Beach Fire and Rescue Station 1 at Orange
Beach, AL.

Laura Bush made a couple of
stops on July 14, 2004:-takes part in a reading roundtable
and media availability at Hueytown Elementary School in Hueytown,
AL. -attends RNC Victory 2004 event at
The Club in Birmingham, AL. (Raises $500,000).

Sen.
Edwards made one visit:Aug. 17, 2004 - evening reception
at the Summit Club in downtown Birmingham, AL (raised a reported
$600,000 for the DNC); Edwards stayed in Birmingham overnight and left
the next morning for New Orleans.

Third Party and IndependentBallot Access NoteIndependent Alabama, an
"alliance of voters crossing party and independent lines," coordinated
a joint petition to help the third party candidates and Nader gather the
5,000 signatures required to appear on the ballot as independents (Sept.
6, 2004 deadline for filing petitions). However on August 18, 2004
Attorney General Troy King issued an advisory opinion stating that only
one name could appear on a petition. (See: 2004-204 [PDF]
from August 18, 2004; also 2004-106 [PDF]
from March 30, 2004).

General Election Ballot
Access (from the Office of Secretary of State Nancy Worley "Presidential
Candidate Ballot Access Election 2004")-To qualify for statewide
ballot access, a political party must receive more than twenty percent
(20%) of the vote cast in the state at the last general election.-For other parties there
is a petition process. File a petition by June 1 with the secretary
of state containing at least 41,012 signatures of qualified electors. The
number of petition signatures for statewide ballot access must equal or
exceed three percent (3%) of the electors who cast ballots for the office
of governor in the last general election. [§17-8-2.1]-An independent presidential
candidate must file a petition containing the signatures of at least five
thousand (5,000) qualified electors of the state who must include their
addresses on the petition to be valid. [§17-19-2(a) through (b)]
All certificates and presidential petitions for independent candidacy must
be filed with the Alabama secretary of state no later than September 6,
2004. [§17-19-2(b)]